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British Speedway - Dead Or Alive?


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Well at the moment it is dead !, but come March it will be given the "kiss of life" and dragged kicking and screaming back to existence, maybe not "life as we know it Jim", maybe not as healthy as previous years, but definitely alive

And I can't wait 😄😄😄
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I think the views of those who have recently stopped attending live matches are very important as they give vital feedback as to why they have turned away from the sport. IF anyone at the BSPA is listening and interested in those reasons. I am teetering on the brink of not going to live in-stadium matches this coming season - after not missing most of any season since 1956. I am a great fan of live TV broadcast matches and intend to see them all during 2017. They contain so much more content and interest than what is on offer at live, in -stadium matches. It is not age nor infirmity that is driving me away but the overlong empty desert between races and the poor facilities ( even something as basic as clear tannoy announcements ) With only 25% of heats having any passing in them ( if you are lucky enough to get that many! ) Poor quality overpriced food and drink on offer. The list of cons far outweighs the list of pros as reasons to go. And that is without the cost of admission! Far too expensive - for me to see every televised speedway match of last season inc Sky and BT cost less than £10 per meeting. Great value and very enjoyable for such a professional package. The worst thing is the "is it on or off" decision taken after poor weather and that often takes another wasted 45 - 60 mins before it is declared as "off". Once last season it was "we will crack on at 7.30 pm because more rain is forecast later " ( but then further remedial work was demanded by some of the riders ) and it was then called off at 8,30 pm. We had been standing there since 7 pm. on what was anyway not a pleasant evening weatherise. Sadly nothing organisationally nor presentation wise has change much since the 1960's. Speedway matches need to be £!2 /£10 and free for under 16's. If you want a continuing and growing future audience. In this weeks Speedway Star the Polish Speedway "overlord" was quoted as saying re British Speedway " most importantly you must enhance the marketing strategy" AND " renaming the leagues is not enough". Things may not be perfect in Polish Speedway but they DO have "bums on seats" in meaningful, viable numbers .

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I think the views of those who have recently stopped attending live matches are very important as they give vital feedback as to why they have turned away from the sport. IF anyone at the BSPA is listening and interested in those reasons. I am teetering on the brink of not going to live in-stadium matches this coming season - after not missing most of any season since 1956. I am a great fan of live TV broadcast matches and intend to see them all during 2017. They contain so much more content and interest than what is on offer at live, in -stadium matches. It is not age nor infirmity that is driving me away but the overlong empty desert between races and the poor facilities ( even something as basic as clear tannoy announcements ) With only 25% of heats having any passing in them ( if you are lucky enough to get that many! ) Poor quality overpriced food and drink on offer. The list of cons far outweighs the list of pros as reasons to go. And that is without the cost of admission! Far too expensive - for me to see every televised speedway match of last season inc Sky and BT cost less than £10 per meeting. Great value and very enjoyable for such a professional package. The worst thing is the "is it on or off" decision taken after poor weather and that often takes another wasted 45 - 60 mins before it is declared as "off". Once last season it was "we will crack on at 7.30 pm because more rain is forecast later " ( but then further remedial work was demanded by some of the riders ) and it was then called off at 8,30 pm. We had been standing there since 7 pm. on what was anyway not a pleasant evening weatherise. Sadly nothing organisationally nor presentation wise has change much since the 1960's. Speedway matches need to be £!2 /£10 and free for under 16's. If you want a continuing and growing future audience. In this weeks Speedway Star the Polish Speedway "overlord" was quoted as saying re British Speedway " most importantly you must enhance the marketing strategy" AND " renaming the leagues is not enough". Things may not be perfect in Polish Speedway but they DO have "bums on seats" in meaningful, viable numbers .

Polish fans on the whole walk or tram it to their big stadiums to support their town's team racing on bloody great tracks made for today's bikes. They go with a determination to have a good time after having a few beers before hand, ready to chant and wave their team onto a win, no interviews, extras or anything, simple as that, how many British fans can say the same?
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Perhaps the GP's will go from strength to strength, to a point where GP riders will be almost a separate entity...

 

Something like 14 to 15 Rounds, bigger sponsors, bigger prizes, and GP riders won't need to compete at league level...

 

League racing will be free of GP riders and will be able to flourish with riders not zipping off fortnightly to do the GP's, except for perhaps the qualifiers......

Certainly separate from British Speedway. But the Poles will hold on to them just fine. Might not be the worst thing ever. Does Chris Holder really bring in that many people?

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but the overlong empty desert between races and the poor facilities ( even something as basic as clear tannoy announcements ) With only 25% of heats having any passing in them ( if you are lucky enough to get that many! ) Poor quality overpriced food and drink on offer.

 

Which bit of that has changed in the last few years ?

 

I was going regularly in the 1980's and it was the same then.

Edited by Halifaxtiger
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Polish fans on the whole walk or tram it to their big stadiums to support their town's team racing on bloody great tracks made for today's bikes. They go with a determination to have a good time after having a few beers before hand, ready to chant and wave their team onto a win, no interviews, extras or anything, simple as that, how many British fans can say the same?

Not many because there aren't many tracks that you can walk or bus to and some of them are so horrible that you probably wouldn't want to go twice.

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Not many because there aren't many tracks that you can walk or bus to and some of them are so horrible that you probably wouldn't want to go twice.

It's all the racing though, I must be old hat, I just need a terrace, a decent mic man and tannoy and some great racing

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Some very interesting comments. Thank you for taking the time you share your views even if some of you don't agree with me. There is nothing like a good debate.

 

One aspect I forgot to add to my post was is speedway dead or alive? For now maybe its just clinging on. If you look at the current league structure and costs of British speedway you will have noticed that in the last couple of seasons most of the established tracks have decided to cut their losses and drop down to the National League. Eastbourne and now Lakeside. Tracks who found they simply could not survive in the higher tiers such as Birmingham and Plymouth. On the other hand does one see Kent or Cradley stepping up anytime soon? errmm NO! Their owners would have to have very big pockets and be financial suicidal. From what I can gather the only track that makes any money is Poole?

 

Will speedway in the UK be dead in the next 10 years? Very very probable! Why do I say this? Land and the need of it for housing. I actually work in the housing sector so know what I am talking about here. I'm sure unless you have been living in the deepest darkest jungles of the Congo for the past few years most of you will be aware of the housing crisis in the UK. It is a two way scenario. Firstly there is a shortage of social housing. Secondly the government in partnership with the developers want to provide more people for opportunity for people to buy new builds with schemes such as help to buy and shared ownership.

 

Available land is now a premium. Landowners are being asked name your price (depending on the area obviously). It's well noted Coventry will be gone shortly. But there will come a time when the land owners of all tracks close to populated area's will be tempted to bite the cherry. Think it will never happen to my team? Well take into account last weeks news that the Jockey Club want to sell off Kempton Park Racecourse. Kempton Park - one of the UK's most famous and premier racecourses! It's certainly not making a loss and attracts huge crowds to its feature meetings. However it is very close to London and the Jockey Club have been rumored to be asking £100m for the land.

 

Maybe in 2027 we will have an elite league with just Buxton and Mildenhall. Poole may be making money but its only a matter of time before Mr Ford accepts the millions.

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Some very interesting comments. Thank you for taking the time you share your views even if some of you don't agree with me. There is nothing like a good debate.

 

One aspect I forgot to add to my post was is speedway dead or alive? For now maybe its just clinging on. If you look at the current league structure and costs of British speedway you will have noticed that in the last couple of seasons most of the established tracks have decided to cut their losses and drop down to the National League. Eastbourne and now Lakeside. Tracks who found they simply could not survive in the higher tiers such as Birmingham and Plymouth. On the other hand does one see Kent or Cradley stepping up anytime soon? errmm NO! Their owners would have to have very big pockets and be financial suicidal. From what I can gather the only track that makes any money is Poole?

 

Will speedway in the UK be dead in the next 10 years? Very very probable! Why do I say this? Land and the need of it for housing. I actually work in the housing sector so know what I am talking about here. I'm sure unless you have been living in the deepest darkest jungles of the Congo for the past few years most of you will be aware of the housing crisis in the UK. It is a two way scenario. Firstly there is a shortage of social housing. Secondly the government in partnership with the developers want to provide more people for opportunity for people to buy new builds with schemes such as help to buy and shared ownership.

 

Available land is now a premium. Landowners are being asked name your price (depending on the area obviously). It's well noted Coventry will be gone shortly. But there will come a time when the land owners of all tracks close to populated area's will be tempted to bite the cherry. Think it will never happen to my team? Well take into account last weeks news that the Jockey Club want to sell off Kempton Park Racecourse. Kempton Park - one of the UK's most famous and premier racecourses! It's certainly not making a loss and attracts huge crowds to its feature meetings. However it is very close to London and the Jockey Club have been rumored to be asking £100m for the land.

 

Maybe in 2027 we will have an elite league with just Buxton and Mildenhall. Poole may be making money but its only a matter of time before Mr Ford accepts the millions.

What do you imagine Mr Ford owns at Poole Speedway that he can sell for millions ?

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Working in the housing sector as you do you would also know about h the problems caused by piss poor planning of these developments

Schools

Doctors

Dentists

Shops

Leisure Facilities

Access

Provide them before continually letting villages become towns.

The Government and councils should be stopping buy to let housing

Low Cost housing for teachers,nurses etc to encourage them to live local to their place of work is a wonderful idea but when they sell up the greedy landlords buy so the problem doesn't get solved

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Some very interesting comments. Thank you for taking the time you share your views even if some of you don't agree with me. There is nothing like a good debate.

 

One aspect I forgot to add to my post was is speedway dead or alive? For now maybe its just clinging on. If you look at the current league structure and costs of British speedway you will have noticed that in the last couple of seasons most of the established tracks have decided to cut their losses and drop down to the National League. Eastbourne and now Lakeside. Tracks who found they simply could not survive in the higher tiers such as Birmingham and Plymouth. On the other hand does one see Kent or Cradley stepping up anytime soon? errmm NO! Their owners would have to have very big pockets and be financial suicidal. From what I can gather the only track that makes any money is Poole?

 

Will speedway in the UK be dead in the next 10 years? Very very probable! Why do I say this? Land and the need of it for housing. I actually work in the housing sector so know what I am talking about here. I'm sure unless you have been living in the deepest darkest jungles of the Congo for the past few years most of you will be aware of the housing crisis in the UK. It is a two way scenario. Firstly there is a shortage of social housing. Secondly the government in partnership with the developers want to provide more people for opportunity for people to buy new builds with schemes such as help to buy and shared ownership.

 

Available land is now a premium. Landowners are being asked name your price (depending on the area obviously). It's well noted Coventry will be gone shortly. But there will come a time when the land owners of all tracks close to populated area's will be tempted to bite the cherry. Think it will never happen to my team? Well take into account last weeks news that the Jockey Club want to sell off Kempton Park Racecourse. Kempton Park - one of the UK's most famous and premier racecourses! It's certainly not making a loss and attracts huge crowds to its feature meetings. However it is very close to London and the Jockey Club have been rumored to be asking £100m for the land.

 

Maybe in 2027 we will have an elite league with just Buxton and Mildenhall. Poole may be making money but its only a matter of time before Mr Ford accepts the millions.

Indeed. Such an issue exists in Hull's surrounding area where there is literally so much spare land, one could easily run another league or two....

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Speedway is not dead and will survive, but not in the form it is now. Within the sport the BSPA fancy that their sport IS something like the top end of football. That is delusional and regular crowds of around a 1,000 ( or less ) are not viable and not attractive to sponsors, There will be 8 -10 tracks running in 2028 when the centenary arrives but it will be a semi-pro setup ( or even completely amateur ) along the lines of non league football. The Hot Young Guns who are good enough in that set up will make their way to Poland to follow their dreams. As Lapworth suggests they will be in rural / just out of town locations where the demand for land for housing / industrial estates does not make it so valuable. The opportunity for real change in the UK was lost ten or fifteen years ago. But, Oh Yes a great race with two or more riders committed to passing and determined to win IS a thing of beauty to watch. It long lives in the memory!

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Speedway is not dead and will survive, but not in the form it is now. Within the sport the BSPA fancy that their sport IS something like the top end of football. That is delusional and regular crowds of around a 1,000 ( or less ) are not viable and not attractive to sponsors, There will be 8 -10 tracks running in 2028 when the centenary arrives but it will be a semi-pro setup ( or even completely amateur ) along the lines of non league football. The Hot Young Guns who are good enough in that set up will make their way to Poland to follow their dreams. As Lapworth suggests they will be in rural / just out of town locations where the demand for land for housing / industrial estates does not make it so valuable. The opportunity for real change in the UK was lost ten or fifteen years ago. But, Oh Yes a great race with two or more riders committed to passing and determined to win IS a thing of beauty to watch. It long lives in the memory!

Having supported Oxford for 32 years it distresses me to see the situation that has developed over the last ten years at Cowley. If the site receives a stay of execution it will be very difficult re-introducing speedway as it will have to go thru' all sorts of planning decisions (I can't see the local residents allowing motor sport to be re-introduced without raising objections) however it's one major blessing that the local council appear keen for the site to be utilised...in whatever form.

 

We shall see and it's with pride that stuck in the window of my car is a 'Save Oxford Stadium' sticker however, living in York, that's not going to raise the profile very much...if at all!

Edited by steve roberts
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If the site receives a stay of execution it will be very difficult re-introducing speedway as it will have to go thru' all sorts of planning decisions (I can't see the local residents allowing motor sport to be re-introduced without raising objections) however it's one major blessing that the local council appear keen for the site to be utilised...in whatever form

Will it need planning permission? Surely it is an established use, which does not expire when the activity discontinues?

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Will it need planning permission? Surely it is an established use, which does not expire when the activity discontinues?

You may be right but I'm assuming that if speedway was to be re-introduced it would need to approved and of course that would have to be at the will of the residents. I know that when I lived in Blackbird Leys there were certain residents determined to close the speedway but the remit was always the stadium was there well before any housing...that's now changed in the respect that the stadium has remained relatively dormant (the Go Karting franchise may still be operating there?)

 

Interesting future but I would be surprised if no objections would be raised...considering the lack of tolerance shown by certain members of the public.

Edited by steve roberts
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Speedway first of all is about 4 men 4 bikes 4 laps of full throttle mayhem.

If speedway isn't about that to you and you need big names for eg hancock, then you need to go back and rethink what speedway is actually all about. Id pretty much watch any level and enjoy it. On this forum I've came to realise that there is many speedway snobs who only want gp stars.....go and follow gp's then if thats the only calibre of rider you wish to see. Club/team speedway is the best way to get the fix with or without the big money stars.

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I used to think we needed the top riders because what they do compared to mere mortals is incredible. However I've started to realise that I enjoy a good race regardless of standard. I'm also getting sick of the prima Donna attitude of the top riders especially the monster group so if they don't want to ride here sod em

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